DNAngel Generation II
by demonicanimegeek
Summary: Rika Niwa was an average girl,she wanted to survive school and maybe get a date with her crush,until her family's curse takes ahold of her.The soul of Dark Mousy, the infamous art thief now resides in her body and takes over when she has romantic feelings
1. Insecurity

Disclaimer: I do not own DNAngel…. except for in my dreams…sigh

Okay, I've been playing around with this idea for DNAngel for a while. Since the English manga has not been coming out regularly for the last year, this fic takes place after the ANIME. I know this chapter's a little weak in sequence, but I'm trying. I think next chapter will be better, so please bear with me.

Chapter 1

"Niwa-san"

No response

"Snap out of it Niwa-san"

Rika woke up with a start as the bell rang. All of the other students were already hurrying out of the room or were gone. The teacher had also left already.

"Geez Niwa-san. Do you sleep at night or what? You've been so spacey lately, and now you're falling asleep in class," Nakajima Kana said to her friend. Her eyebrows were furrowed in concern.

Rika sighed and gathered her books as she got out of her seat. "I just haven't slept well lately, that's all. I'm fine Nakajima. Honestly," she told her friend as they left the classroom. Kana looked at her with a smirk.

"Up late thinking about Fujioka-senpai again?" she taunted.

Rika blushed a crimson red. Her silence was answer enough for Kana. "Are you going to tell him?" she asked.

Rika froze where she stood. Mortification was evident on her face. Despite her nervousness she answered "No" very firmly.

"Aww, come on Niwa-san. How's the boy going to know you like him if you don't spell it out for him?"

Rika looked down at the ground and said sheepishly "Because there's no way that he'd like an underclassman like me. There's nothing unique about me, I'm just…"

"There is absolutely no reason that Fujiwara would not find you physically attractive Niwa-san", she interrupted her, "besides, you should stop fishing for compliments to bring up your self esteem. It's not very becoming," she added to lighten the mood.

"But there are so many girls that like him. Compared to them…"

"For the last time, stop wallowing in your self-pity and talk to the guy" Kana snapped. Rika was her best friend, but sometimes her insecurity got on her nerves. She was serious, if sometimes sardonic, whenever the topic was not about herself.

Rika looked at Kana with envy, "Maybe it's easy for you. All you have to do is batter your eyelashes, and half the guys in our grade level flock to you like lost puppies". It was true; Kana was a bit of a flirt. She had a different boyfriend for each week.

"For god's sake Niwa, if you would actually make eye contact with them you could easily get guys to go out with you" Kana was shouting at her now. Kana had a short temper, and the two girls were polar opposites personality wise, so the other students weren't surprised that the two were arguing. However Kana could never stay made at her for long, she felt too guilty. "Look, I'm sorry, okay?"

Rika just nodded weakly. Kana sighed in exasperation. "I said I'm sorry Niwa-san. I shouldn't have yelled at you okay? I just wish you would have a little more confidence in yourself."

"I'm sorry too. I just can't help it," Rika offered a weak smile, which was as close to "I'm fine" as Kana was going to get. Rika was still only keeping half of her mind on what was happening at the moment.

"You're a million miles away. You must really like this guy, huh?" Kana said. Rika blushed again and ducked her head. "You know" Kana checked her watch, "kendo club should be letting out soon. We could go by and say hi to Fujioka-senpai".

Rika shook her head. "I couldn't. I wouldn't possibly know what to say to him. I'd end up stuttering and just embarrass myself, not to mention make him feel awkward" she rambled.

Kana sighed, "Then I guess I'll have to take matters into my own hands," she told her. "I guess I'll have to ask him out for you," she gave Rika a wicked grin.

"Don't you dare" she threatened Kana.

Ignoring her, Kana proceeded to walk towards the gym. Rika protested the entire way. She tried to drag Kana away, but Kana was determined. Rika was seething with rage when the club members started coming out. When Kana spotted what she was looking for, she shoved Rika and ducked around the corner. Rika stumbled and started to fall when hands gripped her shoulders.

"Are you okay?" a voice asked.

Rika looked up in horror, face still bright red. "I'm sorr…ry," she stammered. She could feel curious eyes on her. To give herself something to do, she scurried for her books. She was going to get out of there as fast as she could.

"Here let me help you" he offered and started gathering some scattered papers.

"Thank you" she finally managed to spit out when he handed her the books. As she stood up, she noticed two other guys watching with interest. Rika made a mental note to kill Kana in the immediate future.

"Are you sure that you're okay?" he asked.

She nodded her head, "Sorry to have troubled you". Rika turned heel and started walking off, still feeling eyes following her that made her uncomfortable.

"Come on Yojii, let's get out of here" one of his friends said. She heard footsteps going in the opposite direction.

Humiliated, she kept repeating, "I'm going to kill her, and it's going to be slow and painful". Kana, of course, had already gone home.

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"I'm home," Rika shouted out as she stepped through the front door. She slipped off her shoes and let her book bag fall to the floor with a thunk. "Grandma? Daichi?" she called out. No answer. "Must be at the market," she thought to herself.

As she started to walk down the hallway, she felt her foot trip a taught string. "Not again," she thought. The floorboards underneath her gave way as a trap door. Rika jumped just in time and rolled out of the way. The collapse of the trap doors also triggered another trap. Rika had to roll rapidly to the end of the hall to avoid the falling kitchen knives that were being dropped from the ceiling. Knives were still dropping when she got to the end of the hall. Rika tried the door, but it was locked. She slipped a lock pick out from her sleeve and got the door open.

"Welcome home honey," her grandmother called out to her. She was standing in front of the oven. Next to her, was her younger brother Daichi.

Daichi smiled "Hey Rika-nee," he greeted her, and then turned his attention to the counter. The smell of strawberries and rising bread wafted from the oven. Both her grandmother and Daichi were coated in flour and various cooking paraphernalia lay scattered on the table and counters. Almost hidden by the flour scattered everywhere, a cute rabbit like creature lay, with a bulging tummy. His mouth was covered with red strawberry juice, and he was sleeping contently.

"I hope you didn't give Wiz too many strawberries," she warned, "he doesn't know when to stop eating". At hearing his name mentioned, Wiz twitched his ears, but didn't make an effort to get up or greet Rika.

"Not too many," Daichi said, "we just started, cuz grandma's been working on the traps for awhile. She wanted to change the ones that she made for me," he told his older sister. Rika just shook her head. Her grandmother would constantly fasten traps and locks for her grandchildren to get through. Whenever asked why, she would just say it was out of habit. Apparently she had done the same thing to their father.

"Hey, enough with the grandma business, you're making me feel old," Emiko chastised them. Rika sighed, her grandmother looked fairly young for her age, but sometime she wondered if maybe it was because she paid for it by losing her mind early on.

"Do you want to help make strawberry tarts?" Daichi asked her eagerly. Rika shook her head.

"No, that's okay. You and grandma," she put emphasis on the word to tease Emiko "have fun". She walked into the living room to head up to her bedroom.

"Was everything okay at school dear?" her mother asked. She was sitting on the couch in the living room, with various envelopes, a notepad, and a calculator stretched out in front of her. If it weren't for her, nothing would get done around the house, the chores, the bills, etc.

"Uh-huh" was all Rika replied. Satisfied by this answer, her mother didn't look up. Rika never liked to share the details of her school day. However Daichi would eagerly relay everything that happened to any willing stranger.

She hurried up the stair, taking two at a time. She crossed the small highway and locked herself in her room. She sighed and sank onto her bed, peeling off her socks. She tossed them to a corner in the room, where she piled her clothing. The room was of medium size, not large and not small. There was a desk on one wall, and bunk beds facing the opposite wall. There was a window that had a view of the sea that surrounded the town. Her father used to sleep in the same room when he was a child, and gave it to Rika because of the beautiful view.

She sighed, and crossed over to the dresser. She started to brush out her hair to relax her. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. She turned her head from side to side, growing more and more discouraged with each angle. Finally she threw the brush down in frustration. She plopped down on the bottom bunk bed and pulled a notebook out from underneath the bed.

Pulling the pencil out from behind her ear that always seemed to be attached, for she always had a pencil, she opened to an open page and began to sketch. At first she was just sketching a random design, but as she continued to make more marks with the pencil, she found that her design was beginning to take shape. Absorbed in her work, time seemed to stand still. The only source of light had been from her window (when she started it had been midafternoon) but the sun was setting, taking the light along with it. Finally she finished her sketch was finished just as the sun slipped over the horizon. She reached over to flip on her bedside lamp, but when she looked at what she had been working on, she wished that she hadn't.

A sketch of Fujioka Yojii was staring up at her. He was in his school uniform, laughing, as though one of his friends was standing near him telling him a funny joke. She looked at it for a while, and then flung it back under the bed.

"Rika, are you going to eat tonight?" her brother's voice called out from downstairs.

She didn't answer, actually she didn't hear him. She was too busy replaying what had happened after school in her mind, imagining what she could have done differently. In one fantasy she wittily covered up her trip and her embarrassment, capturing Yojii's interest. In another, she answered him without stammering, and went after Kana. She was still daydreaming when her mother came in.

"Are you sure that you're okay sweetie?" she asked Rika. Her face showed her concern.

Coming back to reality she replied, "Yes mom, I'm fine. Just very tired".

"Do you want me to bring you anything? Maybe some soup?"

"No thanks mom, I'm fine. Really. I just want to go to bed early".

Riku looked at her daughter with concern. She knew better than to hover over her though. She was like Daisuke, she like being alone at times. "Okay, just let me know if you change you're mind" she said gently. As she left, she closed the door, but not before a strawberry fattened Wiz had managed to squeeze into the room unnoticed.

As Rika changed into her pajamas in the bathroom, Wiz waddled his way up the ladder to the top bunk. It took a lot of effort on the little guy's part, but he managed to settle in on Rika's pillow by the time she returned.

As she climbed up the ladder, she spotted him and couldn't help but smile. As if sensing how his presence was helping Rika, he said "Kyu".

Rika just laughed and let him curl to fit the curve of her arm as she lay down. "Good night Wiz" she said to him. Wiz was already asleep though; he had had a tough day eating all of those strawberries. Comforted by the rise and fall of Wiz breathing next to her, she managed to drift off to sleep.

Some hours later her door cracked open. Daisuke and Riku peeked their heads in to check on Rika. Seeing that all was fine, they tiptoed to check on Daichi, and then downstairs.


	2. Hope

Disclaimer: I do not own DNAngel. No sue please…

Yay, made it to chapter 2. When will Dark appear? We're getting closer, all will be explained in due time….

Chapter 2

There was an annoying buzzing sound that was interrupting the dark silence, a constant beeping noise. Rika tried to drown it out by putting a pillow over her head, accidentally tossing Wiz off of the top bunk in the process. She had almost drifted back into the dark abyss of sleep when she heard

"Rika! You're going to be lat! Get moving already!" her mother shouted

She jolted upright and quickly scurried down the ladder to her dresser, almost falling. She opened the top drawer and grabbed her school uniform. A sleepy Daichi was wandering towards the bathroom but Rika ran past him and quickly locked the door. Half asleep still, Daichi collided with the closed door.

"Ouch" he complained, when he realized there was a solid object that had blocked his path, "Rika, it was my turn" he whined.

"You're a sixth grader" his sister yelled at him, "You can deal. I have to be at school before you do". Rika had just finished throwing on her uniform, and was attacking her long, bright red hair with a brush. It was the same color hair that her father had, with her mother's texture. She threw it into a ponytail and scrubbed her teeth viciously for a moment, then ran out the door.

She grabbed a piece of toast lying on the counter on her way out, and grabbed her school bag. She was putting her shoes on and was about to race out the door when her mother called out to her

"Rika! Your shirt is on backwards!"

Rika sat in her math class, doodling. She was in an advanced math class, with kids in the 11th grade. She went to a private school, with grades 8-12. The principal had suggested moving Rika up a grade level or two, but she had refused. She was enough of a social outcast among her peers. Moving up a few grade levels would just make it worse. Aside from Kana's friendship, she had absolutely no social life, a big factor of her high GPA. Her parents had insisted though that she at least move up in math, because otherwise she would be doing nothing in a simple class. This had been fine with Rika, except for the person that she had a clear view of.

Fujioka Yojii sat two seats ahead of her to her right, giving her a perfect view of him. Ever since she had seen him on the first day of class, math had ceased to hold her attention. Luckily the teacher never drew attention to her; he put notes on the board and sat down at his desk to read. Although she didn't want attention drawn to her, it also meant Yojii had no clue she existed.

So when the teacher assigned the work, she pulled out her notebook and sketched. As the year had progressed, more and more pages of her book had become filled with sketches of Yojii. Rika knew that this was bordering between like and obsession, but he made an interesting subject to draw. Kana had stolen the notebook out of her bookbag once, and had made gagging noises as she looked through it to tease Rika. Even though she knew Kana was just joking, Rika had ignored Kana for days. If the criticism wasn't constructive, you didn't insult Rika's art or subjects.

She was completely absorbed in her drawing, now mostly drawing from memory. This one was simple and still outlinish, unlike the detailed one she had worked on all last night. She was erasing lines here and there, and shading when the bell rang. The back of her mind registered that class was over, but she kept drawing until everyone in the room including the teacher was gone, or so she thought.

"That's very good," said a voice behind her shoulder said. This startled Rika, to say the least, and she jumped in her seat. She wheeled her head around and saw Fujioka standing behind her; he'd been watching her as she drew. "I wish I could draw like that," he added as a compliment.

Rika felt her face turn bright red. Right now she wanted nothing more than to crawl in a dark place so she could die of mortification. Wasn't yesterday afternoon enough? Why did the universe insist on mocking her so?

She knew she should reply, but she didn't think she could form a coherent sentence. Then something strange happened. Rika felt her embarrassment turning to anger. He had been watching her sketch him, probably laughing at her. She had the sudden urge to hurt him for mocking her. The back of her mind that always yelled at her for bumbling like an idiot observed that she was acting more like her normal self.

"Thank you" she said curtly, "excuse me, but I've got to get to my next class now, or I'm going to be late". When she said this, she felt a little guilty for being so standoffish, but she was still convinced that he was only making fun of her feelings. She got up quickly and walked out of the room. She could still tell that he was following her though.

"Hang on a minute. I wanted to give this back to you" he stepped in front of her to block her path and held out her history notebook, "you took off so quickly yesterday that I didn't get the chance to hand it to you". Rika took the notebook and hugged it to herself possessively.

"Thank you. I'm sorry that I caused you trouble yesterday senpai," she bowed and hoped he would let her go. Unfortunately it seemed as though he wasn't going to let her off the hook.

"So you like to draw a lot, huh?" he asked her as they continued down the hall. Rika focused on looking down at her shoes. Her thoughts actually seemed coherent if she wasn't looking at Yojii. It made her seem timid, but at least she didn't babble like a half-wit.

"Yeah, I love it," she said simply. She decided that even though it would sound lame she could attempt some damage control, "I like to sketch people. I hate it when our art teacher makes us draw or paint still-lifes in class". It was partially true. Rika did draw people frequently; she liked drawing them doing normal activities, not poses. When Kana drug her out to shop or be social, she would take a sketchbook and draw the people around her. One time she had drawn some of the girls that sat at her lunch table, Kana included, and given it to Kana for her birthday. Kana had stopped criticizing her for drawing at lunch after that.

"You are really are good at drawing, you know, Niwa-kun. Maybe sometime you could show me some more of your sketches?" he offered.

Rika was surprised that he knew her name. She peeked up from her shoes to look at him skeptically. As an artist, she always doubted it when people praised her work. She hated trying to tell the difference between people who said it because they thought that it was expected, or those who actually meant it. Her mind was also trying to calculate why Fujioka had hinted that he would like to talk to her again sometime. Was he really interested in seeing her sketches, or was he humoring her feelings? She didn't dare let herself hope that he earnestly wanted to spend time with her for another reason.

"Maybe sometime," she agreed hesitantly.

He smiled then, "I'd like that" then he glanced at his watch and apparently just noticed how late it was, "see you around" he said and walked off. Rika watched him for a few seconds, and then hurried in the other direction. When she turned down another hall, she sagged against the wall. Her mind kept wrapping around the conversation, still unable to believe that she had actually talked with Fujioka.

When she had finally collected herself as best she could, she headed towards her science class. She was fairly late by then. She hesitated in front of the door, and the bored class watched her outside of the door instead of paying attention to the teacher. The teacher turned to glare at her through the window on the door.

"Miss Niwa, how nice of you to join us today," the teacher said as Rika came in the room. She slid into her seat after apologizing to the teacher. The teacher was somewhat cranky, but Rika was always prompt so she was letting it slide this time apparently. The teacher picked up on the day's lesson again, some lab activity that they would have to carry out without spilling any dangerous chemicals; a real challenge for some of her classmates.

While the teacher was digging through the cabinets for some material, Rika felt something hit the back of her head. She leaned out of her chair to look down at the floor, and picked up a note folded like a paper football. She opened it up. It simply said: what happened. Rika turned around and saw Kana giving her a quizzical look. Rika turned it over and wrote on it: after class, and passed it back.

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Daichi stared down at his feet, kicking them back and forth in boredom as he sat on a bench. It was after school, and Daisuke had picked him up and brought him to the museum. Riku and Emiko had errands to run, and neither of the adults were going to let Rika baby-sit. The last time she babysat her brother she locked herself in her room, and Daichi almost set the house on fire.

So here he was, stuck and bored out of his mind, until Riku came to pick him up. His father was busy alternating between typing at his computer and writing on papers with a pen. When Daichi had asked his father what he was doing, he had said "Paperwork". It looked boring, so Daichi went outside the office.

Wiz was sitting next to him on the bench. It was a habit of Wiz's to go to work with Daisuke. Wiz too looked bored. He was batting at one of the key chains on Daichi's backpack.

"Come on Wiz, let's walk around," he said to the little fur ball. Wiz hopped on Daichi's shoulder as they wandered around. Daichi had been all over the museum since he was little, but at least it gave him something to do. As they walked around looking at the exhibits, they came to a narrow hallway on the west wing of the building.

There was a rope that blocked off the corridor, but the museum was closed for the day, so the security guard was not on duty. Daichi slipped over the rope and walked to the end of the hall. For some reason this corridor was always blocked off. Whenever Daichi asked his father why, he always changed the subject. He had forgotten about it until now.

The corridor had an empty doorframe that led to a flight of stairs. When Daichi got near the stairs, he was going to turn around, but Wiz suddenly leapt from his shoulder and took off down the stairs.

"Wiz, come back! Dad said we're not allowed to go down there!" he called. It was no use; Wiz was intent on going wherever the stairs led. So Daichi took off at a run, trying to catch up to Wiz before he got to wherever his dad didn't want him to go.

The stair flight was long for a young kid like Daichi, and he soon stopped watching where he was going as he ran down the spiral stairway. When he could see the room he was entering, he tripped on his shoelace, tumbling down the stairwell. He tried to stop his fall, but he kept tumbling down the stairs and continued to do so until he ran into the wall opposite the stairs. He hit the wall with a hard thud, and felt something shake and then shatter on the ground next to him.

He slowly got up; he was very dizzy, and looked around. Wiz was standing next to shattered glass, making his kyu noises. He looked like he was waiting for something. Daichi was horrified. On the ground was what appeared to have been some sort of art piece, and scattered to the ground beside it were two feathers, one black and one white. What appeared to be bones were also scattered.

Already afraid of what his father was going to do to him when he found out, Daichi grabbed Wiz and started running up the stairwell, scolding Wiz all the way for getting him into trouble. All the time Wiz was trying to escape from his grasp to go back to the basement room. Daichi was able to return to the bench without his father noting his absence, but Wiz was still struggling in his grasp. A skull sitting on top of black wings leered at Daichi as he fled the room.

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End of chapter 2. Check back next week for chapter 3!


	3. Turning Point

Disclaimer: I do not own DNAngel, but someday….

Thank you for all of the reviews so far. People talking to me encourages me to update

Chapter 3

It was late at night; the only noise that could be heard in the Niwa home was the low drone of late night TV in the living room and the sound of Emiko snoring in her room. Both Rika and Daichi had gone to bed hours earlier. Riku sat in the living room reading a book, waiting for Daisuke to come home. When he hadn't come home at the normal hour, she became worried. She had called his cell phone, but it was turned off, and he hadn't picked up his office phone. Riku had just told Emiko and the kids that he was tied down at work. She would give him one more hour before she went to the museum herself.

Finally at a little after midnight, she heard a key click in the lock of the front door. She heard a sigh of relief and a thunk as Daisuke dropped his briefcase and shoes by the door. Daisuke came into the living room, fatigue apparent on his face. Riku went to kiss his cheek as he sank down into a chair.

"Tough day at work?" Riku asked, "What was going on that made you so late?". Riku sat back down on the couch, ready to listen.

Daisuke rubbed his temples as he said, "Someone went down into the basement of the museum". Then he whispered, "It's broken".

Riku felt the blood drain out of her face; she instantly understood the cryptic statement. "Did they break?" she asked.

"The skeleton was shattered, but the wings are still attached to the spinal chord, so they weren't separated. I'm not sure whether or not that will help the situation though. I spent all night going through records left by my family on how to piece it back together, we'll just have to wait and see". Daisuke was referring to the time when he was fourteen, that the art piece's wings had been separated. Natural disasters had begun to occur rapidly in his town, and all of the art that the Niwas had managed to gather began to awaken. Daisuke's alter ego, his friend Satoshi's alter ego, and Satoshi's adopted father had all died to rejoin the Black Wings and stop the art from awakening and stop the natural disasters. Or that is what Daisuke had thought until he had seen the two feathers that had lain next to the wreckage. Now he was not so sure.

"Two feathers were laying next to the wreckage," Daisuke added. He wasn't sure what it meant, but he knew that he needed to warn Riku incase anything came of it.

"You mean?" Riku started, and Daisuke nodded.

"They looked identical to the feathers of Krad and Dark," he told her bluntly. "More than likely they are just remnants of when the art was sealed" he finished.

"But it is possible…" Riku started. Daisuke had told her about his family's old curse many years ago.

Daisuke looked reluctant as he told his wife that it was. While he had been close to Dark, he did not want his son to have to share his body in his awkward teenage years. Adolescence was hard enough already.

"At least we have time before he turns fourteen," Riku said. Daisuke nodded.

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Rika sat in her last class for the day, watching the clock tick by slowly. Her last class was always long, but it was raining outside which seemed to slow the clock down by an extra ten minutes or so. She loved to hear the sound of rain, but not in school. It just made her tired.

Her classmates seemed to be as attentive as she was. The front of the class was yawning, trying to look interested so that the teacher would not yell at them. The middle of the class, where Rika sat, was spending their time doodling or looking out the window. The back of the class didn't even try to look attentive. Many had just put their heads down on their desk for a nap.

With nothing to do, her mind wandered. Without meaning to, yesterday's events played through her mind. Her embarrassment at Yojii seeing her drawings and the elation she had felt when he had hinted he would like to talk to her again. Then annoyance when Kana had tried to interrogate her yesterday at lunch.

Kana had looked at her with a smug smile, "What happened Niwa? You're a thousand miles away".

Rika had been picking at her food the entire time. She started at Kana's question. "What do you mean?" she asked, referring to Kana's question.

"I saw your face when you walked into class. You looked like you were in a daze," then she added, "You finally talked to Fujioka-senpai didn't you?"

Rika sighed in slight irritation. Kana was her friend, but she didn't want to spend the entire lunch period having Kana break down and explain the hidden meanings in every word Yojii had said.

"I was late to class because I got too absorbed in my drawing again," she told her. Technically it wasn't a lie she told herself, just half of the truth.

Kana had given her a skeptical look.

Rika saw a few of their other friends coming towards the table, so she decided to quickly add, "but I did talk to him for a little bit. Just small talk".

Kana opened her mouth, probably to continue questioning Rika, but closed it when she noticed a few of their other friends coming. She was the only one that knew about how Rika felt about Yojii, so the conversation dropped as soon as Rin and Ayaka had joined them. Rika could have hugged them in thanks for saving her from Kana.

Rika was pulled back to reality when she heard her eager classmates packing up. The bell had not yet sounded to dismiss classes, but everyone was ready to get out of class, especially since it was Friday. Granted they would have to go to school tomorrow, but only for half a day. She quickly slipped her notebook, empty because she had not bothered to take notes on the teacher's lecture, into her bag as the bell rang.

She battled her way through the crowded hallway to her locker to drop off a few unnecessary books. Then she made her way over to Kana's locker, something she did every afternoon. The two lived fairly close together, so they would walk home together for part of the way. Her friend was primping in the small mirror on her locker door when she got there. Rika leaned on the locker next to hers to wait.

"What's that bump on your chin?" Rika teased her. Maybe if her friend spent as much time studying or doing homework as she did in front of a mirror, she could pass all of her classes with average grades. She was struggling to keep a 2.0 as it was.

"Ha, not funny" she said. Rika thought she saw Kana check her chin though before closing her locker door.

Kana chattered to her all the way down the hall, complaining about some test she had not studied for, but was blaming the teacher for her lack of knowledge. Rika wasn't paying attention. She was scanning the lockers for someone.

About mid-prattle Kana realized her friend was not sympathizing with her in the appropriate times of the conversation. She was stopped to yell at her for being rude when she noticed where Rika's gaze was. Rika had also stopped walking.

Rika was watching Yojii at his locker. Normally Kana would have pulled her away on grounds of being slightly stalkerish, but Rika wasn't watching him in awe. She looked like she had been punched in the stomach. Kana walked to stand next to Rika. A girl was with Yojii, and she was obviously going out of her way to flirt with him. Kana thought that she was probably a senior based on her figure, and she couldn't help feeling a little envy. Then she overheard the last part of their conversation

"…so funny" the girl laughed and Yojii smiled, "I felt so horrible for the poor thing. The little mouse is plain, and can't even manage a three-letter word. It was written all over her face that she liked you, isn't that hilarious? Yojii and the mouse" the senior continued. Yojii smiled at what she had said, and gave a small laugh.

She didn't have to hear the beginning of their conversation to know that the girl was talking about when she had tripped and embarrassed herself in front of the kendo club a few days ago. Rika had been too embarrassed to remember any other person that had been watching besides Yojii.

But that embarrassment was nothing compared to the hurt she felt now. She had allowed herself to think that maybe, just maybe, Yojii had at least wanted to spend time with her. But here he was laughing at her. Laughing. With an upperclassman Rika could never hope to compete with. Rika just wanted to get out of there; she didn't want to hear anything else cruel that the two might say about her. She couldn't bear to hear him laugh at her feelings again. Without realizing it, she was running out of the school. She wasn't crying yet, but people still stopped to stare when they got out of her way. Before she had gotten out of his view completely, her mind registered an angry Kana yelling at the senior girl. All that Rika was able to think was "I should have known. Shouldn't have let myself hope. He never had any interest in me to begin with, he was only humoring me yesterday".

Rika managed to get home much earlier than usual, and was thankful that no one had been home all day and that her grandmother didn't have time to devise traps. She vaguely remembered her mother mentioning something about something at the museum the family had to take care of. She was glad no one was there to see her collapse in her room.

She felt tears forming at the edges of her eyes, but she refused to cry over him. She reached in her bag and pulled out her sketchbook. She flipped to where she had first started sketching him, and ripped out all of the pages after that. His face stared back at her as she ripped the stack in half. As she was doing so she saw his face when he had smiled at her just the other day before going to class.

All of a sudden Rika dropped her sketches. Images of Yojii kept appearing before her eyes, one image lingering the longest. Yojii smiling as he looked at her sketch, smiling warmly as he said goodbye to her. "Rika…" she saw his face as he said her name. Then her entire body felt like it was on fire. She clutched her hair, knuckles turning white. "I love you Rika" she heard his voice say in her mind. I love him, she thought to herself as she continued to hear him repeat her name. I love him, she said to herself again. Then she heard a new voice in her head, "Who loves?" it asked, "love who?" it said. Rika screamed as the fire became unbearable.

She felt her consciousness fade to the back of her mind. When the fire had stopped consuming her body, she tried to move her arms, her legs, anything, but it was like her mind was no longer in sync with her body. She was looking out of eyes that she couldn't control. She saw a body, the one she was in, long limbed. She heard the alien voice, the one she had heard earlier, wonder "what the hell happened?" before she completely lost consciousness.

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Emiko noticed Wiz's odd behavior when she was outside of the front door. The little creature had hopped of her shoulder and was pawing at the door, making anxious "kyu" sounds. She unlocked the door, and Wiz rushed into the house, disappearing. Daichi followed after him, ever the hyper young boy. Emiko laughed to herself seeing their silly behavior. She envied the energy that youth gave them that she had once had. With a sigh she went to go start dinner. Satoshi and Risa had been at the museum all day, Satoshi helping Daisuke in his research, and were probably going to stay at the Niwa's for the night rather than make the long travel back home that night. She was going to need to cook a lot.

Daichi couldn't find Wiz. He had been distracted in the kitchen by an unguarded jar of cookies (Emiko had been too busy muttering to herself to monitor Daichi's snack intake), and now he couldn't find his friend. Normally Wiz was always with Daichi because the two had similar natures, they both were energetic and loved to eat. Daichi went up to the second story to search.

He checked his room first. He looked under the bed and under his dresser incase Wiz had decided to play a hiding game, but no luck. Then he saw that his sister's door was open. When Wiz was tired he preferred the company of Daichi's sister because she would dote on him. Daichi decided that he must have gone in there. He hesitated before he got to the doorway. If Rika was sketching or doing homework she would yell at him for coming in, and depending on her mood, possibly attack him. He decided to risk it. He peeked in the doorway. Rika was nowhere to be seen in the room. Then Daichi noticed the body in the middle of the floor.

It had purple hair and was much taller than his sister, but it had on her school uniform. It was lying face down, so Daichi couldn't tell if it was breathing. Wiz was beside of it, nudging the body's head with his own rabbit like head. Daichi heard it give a low groan, and slowly walked over to it. Daichi wasn't sure whether or not the body was his sister's. He tried to recall anything that might explain this that he might have heard in his boring health class. Discoloration, passing out…then he remembered long lectures they had received that he had just slept through.

Daichi ran down to the foot of the stairs and shouted out at Emiko, "Grandma! Rika's been doing drugs! I think she's had an overdose!"


	4. Voices

I'm sooo sorry about the wait. Please forgive me!

Disclaimer: I do not own DNAngel, yet…

Chapter 5

Dark groaned as he slowly came to. Something small and furry seemed to keep butting against his head. Slowly sitting up, he took in his surroundings. It only took him a few seconds to recognize where he was, despite subtle changes to the room.

"Kyu!" Wiz cried, trying to get his master's attention. Dark stroked his head absently.

However as Dark tried to get his stiff limbs to work, he did notice perhaps one of the strangest outfits he had ever transformed into. Daisuke had always been a little strange, but it was a first for him to be dressing in drag. He would have expected as much from Satoshi…

Rika slowly felt her mind become conscious. She tried to move her arm to rub her temples to try and alleviate the strange presence in her head, but her arm wouldn't obey her. She tried to turn her head, her eyes, get anything to respond, but it was as if she was paralyzed. Then she felt her head turn to look out the window, even though she had not tried to move it.

Feeling the other presence in his mind, Dark asked 'what the hell happened Daisuke?' Dark could vaguely remember a few events of what he guessed was the last time he was conscious. He remembered the weather had been strange, and Riku running after Daisuke…

'I could ask the same!' a very different, feminine voice responded, 'I don't know who you are, but what are you doing in my body?!' it asked, somewhat frantically.

'Well I suppose that would explain the schoolgirl outfit' Dark thought. Rika of course heard this, ignored the remark, as she was not sure if it was directed at her. She was about to demand again who this stranger was that had taken over her body when she heard footsteps racing up the stairs. Her body slowly got to its feet.

'Was I really this tall?' she thought as she saw that her head was almost as tall as the doorframe. 'I must be having a dream' she decided. 'A very strange dream. Maybe dad will start singing opera and Wiz will start talking next' she thought with amusement. Dark also began to wonder if it was all a dream too. But before he could form another thought, he heard a very, very, high-pitched squee. Sighing, Dark turned to face the door completely. He had heard that squee more times than he could count, confirming that unfortunately, this was not a dream and he could not go back to sleep.

"Hey Emiko…" he broke off. This was not the Emiko that he remembered. The Emiko that he had known hadn't looked over her late twenties, but this woman had white hair and a much thinner, smaller, frame. 'Wow, grandma used to be really pretty' Rika couldn't help but think after seeing Dark's memory in her mind. But then the woman sprang forward in a lively manner and hugged Dark with surprising strength for an old woman, confirming that this was indeed Emiko.

"Oh Dark! You look sooo adorable in the schoolgirl outfit!" she exclaimed, crushing him so that it was difficult to breathe. When he didn't respond she abruptly let go, realizing she was smothering him. "Oh right, sorry" she grinned and apologized. Daichi scuffled from where he had been timidly peeking into the room by the doorframe to hide behind Emiko. 'Grandma! What's going on?!' Rika tried to ask Emiko, but no sound came out of her traitorous mouth.

'Your grandmother, huh?' Dark thought. 'It appears I have been dormant far longer than I realized'.

Out loud he asked Emiko, "What's going on, Emiko? It seems I have a new host, but I have no recollection how all of this came about. Care to explain?"

"You don't remember anything? Anything at all?"

"No, I remember up to sharing a body with Daisuke, and inhabiting his body for awhile. But my memory draws a blank after that" he frowned. His suspicions were confirmed, his memory wasn't complete. Something had happened that he couldn't remember.

'What about my body?' Rika tried to scream 'What the hell is going on?!' she demanded. If they wanted to sit back, drink a cup of tea, well then fine. But she wanted her answers first. It was after all her body that was now being used by a stranger.

"Ow!" Dark winced. Rika's outburst had been very loud in his head.

Emiko looked at him with concern, but Dark just shook his head. "Your granddaughter is a little confused, and she's taking it out on me," he informed Emiko.

"Oh Rika! I'm sorry, just a moment sweetie!" she exclaimed. She all of a sudden disappeared, then reappeared with a bundle of clothing in her arms. Dark was relieved to see that Emiko had not lost her energy.

"Thanks," Dark said as she handed the bundle to him.

Emiko sighed, "As much as I know Riku and Risa will enjoy seeing you dressed like a schoolgirl, it does look a tad uncomfortable," she said, referring to the fact the uniform was at least two sizes too small for Dark. Rika realized then that she must not be in her own body after all, and that this was indeed reality. A sense of awkwardness rushed over her as she realized that the body belonging to the deep voice must be male. She wasn't sure then whether she should be grateful or angry that she had no control over where she looked.

While she didn't think this out loud where Dark could here, picking up on her silence, he teasingly told her as he shut the door, 'Sorry, I know that I am unbelievably sexy, but it would be far too scandalous to let my young female counterpart watch' and then, Rika's limited vision went black. She realized that he must have closed his eyes. Fortunately for Dark, Emiko had handed him the black turtleneck and pants that he normally wore, so no vision was required to change. Finally Rika's vision returned, and she and Dark noticed that there was something in his pocket.

Dark, suspicious of what Emiko had probably put in there, drew out the folded piece of paper. Sighing, he unfolded it. As he had suspected it was indeed a photograph. But the face on the faded black and white picture caught him by surprise, and he felt himself immediately loose control over his body.

Rika felt their frame shrinking, until she regained control of her limbs. Although the process took only a few seconds, it felt strange to feel her body slowly start to respond to her will again. Finally in complete control, Rika looked at herself in the mirror. For once, she was glad to see her own face looking back. Rolling up her too long sleeves and pants, she bent over to retrieve the picture that had fallen. It was a young woman, but other than the fact that she was very pretty, Rika couldn't find anything special about the picture. She seemed familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Whatever it was about the picture that had caused her to regain her body, she was grateful for it and replaced it in her back pocket.

Still though, she could sense another presence in her mind. She tried to reach out to it to see if it was the strange boy, but he seemed to be ignoring her. She could feel something strange coming from his presence, regret maybe? But he continued to ignore her. Shrugging to show she didn't mind a lack of voices in her head, she made her way downstairs to get answers from her grandmother.

Wiz jumped onto her shoulder from the railing on the stairs, kyuing at her. She wasn't sure if he was protesting her replacement of the strange boy, or if he was begging for her to go fix him a bowl of strawberries.

'He's probably begging for strawberries' the voice answered her thoughts.

"Oh dear, it looks like that turtle neck is trying to eat you" Emiko said to Rika as she walked into the living room. Rika had sunk onto the couch, with Wiz beside her. However seeing the bowl of strawberries Emiko was carrying, he quickly jumped over to the coffee table to eat his body weight in fruit.

Rika waited. She knew her grandmother was only trying to lighten the mood. Emiko sat down and seemed to collect her thoughts for a moment. She heard the voice chuckle in the back of her mind.

"Rika, for generations the Niwa family has guarded a secret. In our genes lies the DNA of the phantom thief Dark. In previous generations males in our family would transform into Dark after being rejected by their first love. It was those romantic feelings that caused the transformation into Dark, and allowed them to return to normal. The Niwas were once a family of great art thieves…" she broke off, but continued, "this line included your father, Daisuke. However one day a seal on a dangerous piece of art was broken. Your father and Dark fought to re-seal the art, and eventually Dark sealed himself away to contain the piece. We had thought Dark was gone for good and that the line of art thieves had ended," Emiko finished.

Dark felt his memory of that day come back in a rush. He remembered now. Careful to hide it from Rika as this was all new to her, he recalled fighting with Krad and beginning the seal, and then darkness.

Rika just blinked. She wasn't sure whether to laugh her grandmother's wild tale off, or to pull her hair out in frustration at the weirdness of it all. She wanted to believe that her grandmother was just crazy, but she couldn't forget that feeling when she felt herself loose control of her body, and the boy's voice inside her head.

'Not that a voice in your head probably counts for much, but for what it's worth you're not entirely insane' the voice, Dark, told her. At least now she had a name, even if her grandmother's story had only raised eighty billion more questions.

Rika settled for the biggest one looming in her mind, "Grandma, you said all the males in the line were the ones who transformed. If that's so, then why was I the one who this happened to? Why didn't happen to Daichi?" Rika wasn't wishing this on her younger brother, but she was really wondering if something was wrong with her.

"I don't know" Emiko said, slightly exasperated. "Dark?" she asked.

'I don't know either,' Dark told Rika to relay to Emiko. 'I can only guess that the breaking of the seal must have messed something up, since Daisuke would have been freed of me by now had I not been sealed and could not be my host. I'm guessing since your grandson was too young, I ended up in Rika's body because she was the only teenager with an unrequited love'. Rika relayed this to her grandmother, even though she didn't entirely understand.

"A Niwa no longer transformed into Dark after winning over their true love" Emiko briefly explained to Rika.

"So is that why you always set up those obstacles for Daichi and I when mom and dad weren't home? Because you thought there was a possibility Daichi might transform one day?"

"No," Emiko said and grinned, "It was more of a habit really. Like I said, we had all thought that Daisuke would be the last of our line to change. I had trained in the same manner when I was young, and I had trained Daisuke in the arts of thieving, and I saw no reason to let those skills die out just because we wouldn't be using them to steal art any more".

Rika recalled a few times when she had darted out of the house without grabbing keys to the school's after school rooms set aside for clubs. True enough, her ability to break into any lock was useful.

Just then, they heard the front door click open. Daichi forgot that he was supposed to be hiding behind the couch, eavesdropping, and rushed into the other room to greet his parents.


	5. Reunion

I'm sooo sorry about the wait. Please forgive me! Our school had us do a personal project for the first semester, and since I was doing a writing project, I haven't had any free time. But updates should start coming again since the project is done

Disclaimer: I do not own DNAngel

Chapter 5 (Yes, I know that the last chapter said chapter 5, but it lies)

"Mommy! Daddy!" Daichi called out enthusiastically. He ran to meet his mother, intending to give her a smothering hug. However it was a different set of arms that caught him up. He looked up, confused.

"Well it's nice to see you too, Daichi!" A soft voice said, in a slightly higher pitch than his mother's voice. However the same smile and warm brown eyes looked down at him.

"Aunt Risa!" He cried out, in surprise. His mother and father were squeezing in the door past his aunt. Realizing they were blocking the way, the two stepped forward, Risa's arm still wrapped around her little nephew's shoulders. His father filed in, giving his son a warm smile. His mother followed, glancing back at the door, which was still open.

"Come on in Satoshi, it's getting chilly outside," she called to a figure in on their stoop. A tall man stepped in the door awkwardly. Daichi smiled at his uncle, who nodded when he met his eyes. Daichi couldn't ever recall seeing his uncle smile. He couldn't understand how two different people like his aunt and uncle could coexist in the same room, much less be married to one another. Daichi thought to himself yet again how strange adults were.

As the adults began removing their shoes and leaving their coats near the door, Daichi ran to the living room. "Grandma," Daichi called (ignoring the fact that Emiko was going to hurt him later for calling her that), "Aunt Risa and Uncle Satoshi are here too!"

Emiko smiled at him, not sure whether to hit him for calling her "grandma". She shuddered whenever the word was said. She was not old! But she couldn't help but find his energy amusing. She wasn't terribly surprised to hear that they had company. If anything had gone wrong at the museum today, as she suspected it had, Satoshi would have been the first person Daisuke would have called. As a member of the Hikari family, his knowledge on art pieces was unrivaled, and he knew the secrets of the Niwa family, so nothing would need to be kept hidden. Emiko had once almost hated the boy when he was Krad's host and posed a threat to her son but after the transformations stopped for both of them and Satoshi became common in their home, and she had to admit to herself that he wasn't entirely bad. He could be a smart ass though, so she still felt like hitting him at times.

Speaking of the devil, her son and the rest of her new family made their way into the living room. The small room soon became pressed for space, Emiko looked over at her granddaughter. Rika still sat on the middle of the couch, seeming to be digesting the information she had been given. Rika wouldn't meet her eyes though, but rather kept staring at the floor or an occasional glance at Wiz. The fact that the small living room was crowding didn't even seem to register in her mind. Her mother, aunt, and Daichi claimed the remaining couch space, leaving little breathing room. Daisuke and Satoshi remained standing near the chair where Emiko was seated.

There was an air of awkwardness in the room. Emiko's too quick and enthusiastic responses, and Rika's absolute silence were the main causes. More small talk was attempted, and the only other person silent besides Rika was Satoshi. While Satoshi's silence was normal, Rika's was not. Rika may have seemed quiet at school, but that was mainly because she preferred to daydream than talk to people. She was much more talkative when she was comfortable with the people around her. Her mother claimed she was just like her father in that sense. However Daichi didn't mind being the center of attention one bit, and was delighted to have full attention from his aunt and parents as he talked about his day.

Trying to inconspicuously to leave the room, Emiko and Daisuke excused themselves. Watching them walk into the kitchen, the other occupants of the room stared openly at Rika. Emiko might as well have announced that something concerning had happened, and by Rika's odd behavior, it probably was centered on her.

"Daichi, sweetie, it's getting late. Why don't you head upstairs and tuck yourself in? Say goodnight to everyone," his mother ordered. Being the young boy that he was, he had to spend some time whining, but with a look from his mother, he finally went up the stairs. Riku knew that if she didn't go up to check on him soon, he would be sneaking to the top of the stairs to eavesdrop though.

"If this is a bad time, maybe we should leave. We only wanted to stop by and see the kids after all," Risa offered.

"No…I'm sure it's fine," Riku replied a little hesitantly. She looked to Rika for reassurance, but her daughter continued to bore holes in the flooring.

"Hehe, the gang's pretty much together again," the voice inside of her head laughed. "Damn, I'd forgotten how much I liked those twins," it snickered. Rika felt an angry blush rising in her cheeks as she saw this, Dark's, memories. He was kissing a young girl on a balcony…'Oh my god, that's my mother' she realized with horror. Unable to control her temper, she shouted, "Knock it off you pervert!"

Realizing her mistake too late, Rika tried to will herself to turn into a couch cushion as her aunt and mother shot worried glances at her. The voice inside her head seemed to find it hilarious, but at least seemed to be controlling his thoughts now, because the scarring mental images faded.

As her aunt, uncle, and mother stared at her with worried expressions, Rika groaned and buried her face in a pillow, whishing with every fiber of her being that she could smack the boy that had taken over her head.

Satomi sat in her window seat, enjoying the view of the half moon. She admired the view and wished, not for the first time, that she didn't live in the city so that the stars would be visible. She rested her head against the wall, pushing the glasses on the top of her head slightly forward. She had abandoned them long ago when the sun went down and she was forced to put up her book. She knew she should be in bed, even though her parents weren't home, but she had felt keyed up ever since midday. Even now energy coursed through her veins, and she knew sleep would be impossible.

As she watched the moon rise in the sky, the energy also grew into discomfort. Her limbs and body felt odd; she wasn't sure how to describe the feeling. When the crippling pain came, she wasn't expecting it.

A searing, fiery pain gripped her entire body. Giving a small cry, she tried to pull her body in her arms until it would subside, but the pain would not be dominated. It forced her to the floor in a violent fall, upending her book and causing her glasses to fall to the floor. Time seemed to fade as she lay writhing on the floor. She screamed in agony as the pain took control of her body. After what felt like hours, she finally lost consciousness.

A golden aura seemed to glow around her body, engulfing it as her figure grew and changed. Slowly, on tired, unused legs, he rose to his feet. His cloak and hair fell in place as he stood.

Holding his hands out in front of him, Krad laughed uncontrollably as he realized that he once again had a form and being. Holding his hand to his face as he laughed maniacally, he remembered Dark's attempt to bind and destroy them both. "Poor Dark Mousy, you've lost again," he said to himself. "This time, I'll make sure you will never appear in this world again," he said. He took a step towards the window, and heard a crunch under his foot. When he looked down, he saw a pair of now broken glasses under foot, which only set off more laughter. With that he threw open the window and took to the night sky to plot and revel in his new freedom.

The room was silent and all eyes seemed to be on Emiko for once. Daisuke was sitting in the chair now, trying to relieve some of the stress that the day had built up. Satoshi continued to observe the people around him in silence; he was the only one that seemed to have an idea as to what was going on.

"I've already had to explain this twice, and I'm getting pretty tired of it, so unless Rika wants to tell you herself what's going on, I'm just going to show you," Emiko said to her family. When Rika didn't respond, she just sighed, and pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. She silently handed it over to Rika, who unsuspectingly opened it. She looked at in horror as she realized it was one of her many sketches of Fujioka-senpai. She felt color rise to her face as she stared at his smiling face. Then she began to feel her mind losing control of her body. 'Not again…' she thought to herself. This time though, she didn't try to fight the change, but resigned herself to it. She was surprised when she found that the transformation was relatively painless if you didn't fight it. Back in the corner of her mind, she looked at the shocked expressions of her aunt and mother. Satoshi and her father were the only two who weren't surprised by her transformation.

"Man, is it good to be back," Dark sighed and stretched his arms, putting them around Riku and Risa's shoulders. He quickly drew them back though when he saw the murderous expression in Riku's face. 'I guess some things will never change,' he said to himself as Riku got up to stand beside her husband. Risa still seemed to be in shock. She had eventually been told the story behind Dark and Krad, and the two families, but she had never expected to again see the boy she had obsessed over as a teenager.

"Wow Daisuke, you actually grew," Dark couldn't help from saying. He looked around and noted with sadness that everyone in the room was considerably older. Looking down, he couldn't help but feel the familiar bitterness at knowing he would never be able to age or live as normal humans did. To his surprise, this comment got a laugh out of Satoshi, who tried to cover it with a cough. Emiko also seemed surprised to see Satoshi do anything other than brood.

Daisuke looked at Dark, and actually seemed glad to see him. There was genuine warmth in his eyes when he said, "Long time no see partner." Daisuke had been glad to regain complete control of his body, but he had missed the older boy that had constantly been with him for that year. When Dark had sealed himself, he had lost his older brother figure.

"It's not that we're not glad to see you Dark, but what's going on? How is it that you've manifested in Rika's body?" Risa finally asked, seeming to come unfrozen again. Emiko answered before Dark could open his mouth.

"We're not sure," she said.

"Well his spirit is probably free now because of the destruction of the seal that was being guarded at the museum," Daisuke stated.

"That much is obvious," Riku said a bit sharply, "but why is he in my Rika's body? I thought you said only male Niwas could transform in the past." She looked at Emiko as she said the last part.

"I don't know Riku, I'm honestly as confused as you are. When I sealed myself and Krad away, I thought I would die," he answered. "I'm guessing that when the seal was released I was born into the closest Niwa of age. It's not as if I select my hosts myself. I either become a part of them or continue to sleep," he finished. Rika was thankful that he left out the unrequited love part. She wasn't surprised to find that her grandmother already knew about her crush, but she didn't like to talk about those things with other people, she preferred to deal with them on her own. She would have been mortified if her parents found out she liked someone.

"It's not terribly odd for Dark to manifest in Rika's body," Satoshi said quietly. Everyone turned to look at him, but he didn't meet any of their eyes; he appeared lost in thought. Dark looked over at Emiko when Satoshi said this. She wouldn't let anyone see it, but Dark knew the woman well. She loved her granddaughter very much, but he knew that she would be hurt by the fact that Rika had transformed into Dark when she never could. Her entire childhood had revolved around either transforming into the great phantom thief or giving birth to him.

"After all, Krad was hosted by many of the women in the Hikari line until I was born. My mother was one of his hosts." He appeared lost in the past, and Daisuke suspected that he was remembering the ordeal he went through as Krad's host. While Krad appeared to be an angel, he was anything but, and Satoshi's life had been a living hell until Krad was sealed. He wasn't positive, but Daisuke had long ago inferred that Krad never treated his hosts well. That was another way the two were different: Krad was a parasite to his host, but Dark could actually be helpful at times.

'Who's Krad?' Rika thought. Seeing glimpses of Dark's thoughts was only confusing her, although she felt a little better than she had this afternoon. Things were beginning to make a little more sense and she was finally convinced that she was no longer dreaming. So her family had a curse on it, that she could live with. Now she had an alter ego, well she was getting a little used to the strange feeling in her head. Apparently her father had also gone through the same thing, and he was still fine. In fact, he seemed to have gotten rid of Dark, so maybe there was hope for her too. 'That eager to get rid of me?' Dark couldn't help but ask her. Rika realized she was going to have to get better at hiding her thoughts.

Satoshi looked over at Risa and said with sudden urgency, "We need to leave." Risa looked up at him, confused, but followed. Her husband could be strange, but she had learned over the years to listen to him, because he was normally right.

"Why?" she asked him, confused. She turned around and bowed to her family, "I'm sorry, I don't know what's gotten in to him, but thank you for having us over," she apologized, and went after her husband. He was waiting for her at the door, but he set a fast pace down the street as they began to head towards home.

"What on earth has gotten into you?" she asked him. "That was rude of you."

"As much as I would love to make chitchat with my old nemesis, there's something more important. If Dark's back, what do you think that means for the Hikari family?" he asked her harshly. Risa shrank back, hurt by his anger. She knew it wasn't directed at her, but he didn't have to take it out on her. When she didn't answer, he simply said, "The Niwas aren't the only family with a curse. If the seal has broken, I'm afraid Satomi is about to find out how horrible the Hikari curse is."

As his words sank in, Risa immediately caught up to his pace, and was no longer hurt by his words. She too, was now afraid for the safety of their daughter.


End file.
